Racing game apparatus

ABSTRACT

A game apparatus including a plurality of toy cars which are selectively movable along a path of travel or track. The track includes a plurality of separate transverse track sections which are alignable with one another end-to-end to form a plurality of side-by-side lanes. In the illustrated embodiment, each transverse track section is divided into four adjacent side-byside lane portions defining four lanes when the track sections are aligned end-to-end. During play, anytime all of the cars have moved off of the rearmost transverse track section leaving four side-by-side empty lane portions thereon, that transverse track section is moved from the rear end of the track to the forward end of the track to make a continuing four lane track. A lap counter is provided on one of the track sections and is incremented one lap each time one of the track sections is moved from the rear to the front end of the track. A plurality of playing cards are provided which dictate the moves for the various players of the game.

United States Patent [1 1 Barlow [451 Oct. 14, 1975 RACING GAMEAPPARATUS [75] Inventor: Gordon A. Barlow, Skokie, ll].

[73] Assignee: Marvin Glass & Associates,

Chicago, Ill.

[22] Filed: Feb. 13, 1975 [21] Appl. No.: 549,718

[52] US. Cl. 273/134 CA; 273/86 A; 273/134 B; 273/134 CB; 273/134 GPrimary li.raminerDelbert B. Lowe Attorney, Agent, or FirmCoffee &Sweeney [57] ABSTRACT A game apparatus including a plurality of toy carswhich are selectively movable along a path of travel or track. The trackincludes a plurality of separate transverse track sections which arealignable with one another end-to-end to form a plurality ofside-by-side lanes. 1n the illustrated embodiment, each transverse tracksection is divided into four adjacent side-by-sidc lane portionsdefining four lanes when the track sections are aligned end-to-end.During play, anytime all of the cars have moved off of the rearmosttransverse track section leaving four side-by-side empty lane portionsthereon, that transverse track section is moved from the rear end of thetrack to the forward end of the track to make a continuing four lanetrack. A lap counter is provided on one of the track sections and isincremented one lap each time one of the track sections is moved fromthe rear to the front end of the track. A plurality of playing cards areprovided which dictate the moves for the various players of the game.

8 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures US. Patent Oct. 14, 1975 caoss on.

DRAFTING RACING GAME APPARATUS BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn the past, racing type games have been provided in which a pluralityof playing pieces or small toy cars move around a track provided on agame board or the like. In most of these previous games, the playingpiece path of travel or the track was continuous, in the form of a loopor the like, and the progress of the various players playing pieces wasnot affected by the length of the track. Also, if larger cars includingmore realistic details were used, a much larger track or game board wasrequired and therefore this size limitation significantly affected theamount of detail which could be shown on the playing pieces or cars.

It is an object of the presentinvention to provide a new and improvedcar racing game wherein sections of the track having side-by-side laneportions are sequentially moved from the rearward end of the track tothe forward end of the track to thereby provide a continuous lengtheningof the lanes and track, which thereby will accommodate substantiallylarge playing pieces which can be used in a playing area which issubstantially less than the length of the total playable track.

In accordance with the present invention, a car race game is providedwhich includes a plurality of toy cars or playing pieces which aremanually moved in a stepwise fashion along a playing piece path oftravel or track. The track includes a plurality of transverse tracksections wherein each section includes a plurality of adjacent laneportions whereby when the track sections are placed end-to-end aplurality of side-by-side lanes are provided. A deck of playing cardsdictates the movement of the playing pieces and, as the playing piecesmove along the track from one track section to the next, therearwardmost track section is moved to the front of the track to providea continuous playing piece path of travel. A lap counter is incrementedeach time a track portion is moved from the rear to the front of thetrack to signal the end of the game after a predetermined number of lapshave been traversed.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparentfrom the following detailed description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of thetrack sections, playing pieces and lap counter of the car racing game ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a somewhat diagrammatic representation of the movement of therear track portion to the front of the track after all of the playingpieces have been moved forward onto the next adjacent track section; and

FIG. 3 is a representation of three of the playing cards of the game ofthe present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, andparticularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, the game of the present invention,generally designated 10, includes a game board or track, generallydesignated 12, and a plurality of playing pieces 14, at least one foreach of the players of the game. The

playing pieces 14 are in the form and shape of a sleek, low profileracing car and can be of sufficiently large size to be easily handled byyoung children. The game board or racing track 12 includes fourtransverse track sections 18 each of which are divided into four laneportions 20. Three median strips 22 are provided by slightly raised websalong the length of each track 18 to define the four lane portions 20. Apair of upwardly canted curbs 24 define the outside boundaries of thetwo outermost lane portions 20 of each track section.

A lap counter, generally designated 28, is secured to one of the tracksections 18 for accumulating the total number of laps" completed. Thelap counter 28 includes a face plate 30 which is mounted on a horizontalextension 32 of the respective track section. Numerical indicia 34 onthe face plate 30 represents the number of laps completed and arotatably mounted pointer 36 is manually positionable to the next numbereach time a lap is completed.

Referring to FIG. 2, the separation of the track 12 into four separatetrack sections 18 permits the last or rearwardmost section 18 (at theright as viewed in the drawings) to be moved up to the forward end, asshown by arrow A, to provide for a continuous lengthening of the track.This is done only when all of the playing pieces have been moved off ofthe rearmost track sec tion. Each time that a track section is movedfrom the rear to the front of the track represents one lap, and the lapcounter is incremented accordingly.

The race game includes a plurality or deck of playing cards 40 to beused to dictate the play of the game according to the scheme or rules ofthe game. FIG. 3 shows a representation of three of the several cards inthe deck 40. A cut-off" card 42, to the left of FIG. 3, represents anoption for the player holding that card to move ahead and switch lanesto the left or the right, if possible. Of course, a player in the lanefarthest to one side of the track could only move into the adjacentinner lane. The position to which the player is moving his car 14 mustbe unoccupied. A drafting card 44 is shown in the center of FIG. 3. Whenholding this card, at any time, a player may declare his use of the card44 and may follow the car 14 in front of him on the track 12 for as manyspaces as the lead car moves during a particular turn for that player.Additional cards from the deck 40 include a pit stop card (not shown) inwhich the car 14 is totally removed from the track. That player mustthen acquire a repair card (not shown) which permits him to replace hiscar on the track at the rearwardmost portion. The number and types ofcards can be varied indefinitely and therefore no unnecessary limitationshould be understood from the description herein. For instance, anotherone of the cards is an oil slick card (not shown) which a player mayplace on the track directly in front of another players car. In order tocross the oil slick, the player whose car is blocked must obtain a cardsuch as 46, at the right of FIG. 3, which permits him to cross the oilslick. Similarly, the oil slick could be avoided by a cut-off card 42which permits the player to switch lanes.

The deck of cards shown in the preferred embodiment can include betweeneight and 10 different cards but preferably includes at least fouridentical or matched sets so as to make a deck of approximately 40cards. Thus, as shown, up to four players can play the game and one setof 8 to 10 different playing cards is used for each player. Preferablyall of the sets are shuffled together before the start of play. Afterthe cards are shuffled, they are dealt to the players of the game sothat each player has four cards to start. The remainder of the deck isplaced face down adjacent the track as shown in PK}. 2. One of theplayers is chosen to move first by a conventional chance device or othermeans. The lanes can. also be so chosen. The playing pieces or cars 14associated with each player, by color coding or otherwise, arepositioned side-by-side in the lane portions of the rearwardmost tracksection 18 and the lap counter is set to zero.

The first player may then play as many of his four cards as possible.For example, if he is holding a cutoff card" 42, he may move to anadjacent lane in front of one of his opponents. If he is holding an oilslick card he also may use that by placing it in front of one of hisother opponents. Of course, the drafting card 44 cannot be used untiltwo cars are lined up one behind the other on adjacent track portions.Therefore, assuming the first player used a cut-off card 42 to move infront of another player, if that other player is holding a drafting cardhe may play it and have his car follow the lead car it moves. As thecards are played by the players, they are placed under the bottom of thedeck 40 and each player, at the end of his turn, takes as many cardsfrom the top of the deck as necessary to insure that he has four cardsin his hand. Of course, he must wait until his next turn to use thenewly acquired cards. Of course, other schemes of card distributionand/or acquisition are available.

If a player is unable to use any of his cards, he is passed but for onlyone time. When it is his turn to play or move again, if he is stillunable to move using one of his cards, he is permitted to move his car14 to an adjacent lane portion on the same track section 18.Additionally, no player may move his car 14 off of the end of the track12. That player must wait until an additional track section is movedfrom the rear to the front of the track. However, the rearwardmost tracksection cannot be moved to the front of the track until all of the cars14 thereon have moved forward by at least one space. The race is over,and the car in the lead is the winner, after a predetermined number oflaps, for example, 10, have been completed. Of course, the rules couldbe changed and the first playing piece to move onto the forwardmosttrack section could be declared the winner.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness ofunderstanding only and no unnecessary limitations should be understoodtherefrom as some modifications will be obvious to those skilled in theart.

I claim:

1. A racing game apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of manually manipulatable playing pieces;

a racing track defining a plurality of side-by-side elongated lanesalong which said playing pieces are movable, said track comprising aplurality of separate transverse track sections each having adjacentside-to-side lane portions whereby the track sections when placedend-to-end define said elongated lanes, and whereby the track sectionscan be individually moved from the rear end of the track to the frontend of the track to thereby selectively lengthen the track during play;and

a plurality of instruction cards having indicia thereon for dictatingthe movement of the playing pieces along the track from one lane toanother.

2. The racing game apparatus of claim 1 wherein each of said tracksections has barrier means separating said lane portions and saidplaying pieces are in the form of miniature vehicles slidably fitted andmovable between said barrier means.

3. The racing game of claim 1 including a lap counter for indicating thenumber of laps in which a track section has been moved from the rear endof the track to the front end thereof after all of the playing pieceshave moved off of the particular rear track section.

4. The racing game of claim 3 wherein said lap counter is formed on theside of one of said track sections.

5. The racing game of claim 1 wherein at least one of said instructioncards has indicia thereon for dictating the movement of a playersplaying piece from one lane to an adjacent lane.

6. The racing game of claim 1 wherein at least one of said instructioncards has indicia thereon dictating the movement of a players playingpiece to either of the adjacent lanes.

7. The racing game of claim 1 wherein at least one of said instructioncards has indicia thereon dictating the movement of one players playingpiece to follow the movement of another players playing piece.

8. The racing game of claim ll wherein at least one of said instructioncards includes indicia thereon which permits one player to selectivelyblock the movement of another players playing piece.

=l l l

1. A racing game apparatus, comprising: a plurality of manuallymanipulatable playing pieces; a racing track defining a plurality ofside-by-side elongated lanes along which said playing pieces aremovable, said track comprising a plurality of separate transverse tracksections each having adjacent side-to-side lane portions whereby thetrack sections when placed end-to-end define said elongated lanes, andwhereby the track sections can be individually moved from the rear endof the track to the front end of the track to thereby selectivelylengthen the track during play; and a plurality of instruction cardshaving indicia thereon for dictating the movement of the playing piecesalong the track from one lane to another.
 2. The racing game apparatusof claim 1 wherein each of said track sections has barrier meansseparating said lane portions and said playing pieces are in the form ofminiature vehicles slidably fitted and movable between said barriermeans.
 3. The racing game of claim 1 including a lap counter forindicating the number of ''''laps'''' in which a track section has beenmoved from the rear end of the track to the front end thereof after allof the playing pieces have moved off of the particular rear tracksection.
 4. The racing game of claim 3 wherein said lap counter isformed on the side of one of said track sections.
 5. The racing game ofclaim 1 wherein at least one of said instruction cards has indiciathereon for dictating the movement of a player''s playing piece from onelane to an adjacent lane.
 6. The racing game of claim 1 wherein at leastone of said instruction cards has indicia thereon dictating the movementof a player''s playing piece to either of the adjacent lanes.
 7. Theracing game of claim 1 wherein at least one of said instruction cardshas indicia thereon dictating the movement of one player''s playingpiece to follow the movement of another player''s playing piece.
 8. Theracing game of claim 1 wherein at least one of said instruction cardsincludes indicia thereon which permits one player to selectively blockthe movement of another player''s playing piece.